Budget 2015: Gordon Brown beats George Osborne on job approval rating March 20, 2015 Now the dust has settled; the pollsters are digesting the public's reaction to Osborne's Budget and how they rate the chancellor. The good news for Osborne is that YouGov found for the first time since 2010 that more people approve if his job performance than disapprove. However, the chancellor of five years still failed to [...]
General Election 2015 boost for Osborne as government on track to meet borrowing targets after bumper month of tax reciepts March 20, 2015 George Osborne is on schedule to meet his full year target for cutting the budget deficit, after a raft of self-assessment tax returns made February’s deficit the smallest since 2008. The deficit last month was £57.5bn, compared to £68.3bn last February and a peak of £95.2bn in 2009. In February 2008 it was £38.5bn. The [...]
Budget 2015: George Osborne urged to explain £12bn of planned cuts March 19, 2015 Pressure is mounting on chancellor George Osborne to reveal where planned welfare cuts will eventually be implemented. “It is almost two years since he [Osborne] announced his intention of cutting welfare spending by £12bn,” said Paul Johnson, head of the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS). “Apparently the plan is to have those £12bn of cuts [...]
Budget 2015: George Osborne’s fiscal tricks are as bad as Gordon Brown’s: We need an umpire March 19, 2015 No New Zealander likes to be reminded of the infamous “underarm incident”. Cricketer Brian McKechnie, facing the final ball of a hard-fought series, needed six runs to clinch it for New Zealand. The Australian bowler walked in and rolled the ball – underarm – down the pitch to McKechnie. Even the Australian Prime Minister was [...]
Most consumers aren’t feeling the benefits of Osborne’s recovery March 19, 2015 George Osborne used yesterday's Budget to trumpet the government's economic record. With a dramatic fall in unemployment, respectable economic growth and low inflation, the Conservatives believe they have strong record to run on. Osborne labelled Britain the "comeback country" and said the government had brought the UK back from the brink. But how many consumers [...]
Jeremy Browne: George Osborne has given up making the case for a smaller state March 19, 2015 George Osborne has given up making the case for a smaller state and conceded ground to the Labour party, according to a former government minister. Speaking at a post-Budget briefing hosted by the Taxpayers' Alliance and the Institute of Economic Affairs, ex-home and foreign office minister Jeremy Browne said Osborne was failing to make the [...]
Budget 2015: Renton Osborne goes Toryspotting March 19, 2015 Choose life. Choose a job. Choose a career. Choose a family. Choose the Tories. That was George “Renton” Osborne’s message to electorate, as he used the final Budget of this coalition to go Toryspotting. “We choose the future,” the chancellor said, in a sequence reminiscent of the opening of Ewan Macgregor’s 1996 film. ”We choose [...]
Budget 2015: George Osborne’s election gift for young and old alike March 18, 2015 Chancellor George Osborne used the final Budget of this government to give sweeteners to both younger and older voters yesterday. In an unexpected move, he introduced a new Help-To-Buy ISA, giving first-time buyers up to £3,000. “For every £200 [first-time buyers] save for their deposit, the government will top it up with £50 more,” Osborne [...]
On life, taxes and Osborne’s chance to beat a £20bn target March 18, 2015 If taxes are one of life’s few certainties, then taxes on banks are becoming just as predictable. Just when HSBC thought its lot could not get any tougher, up pops George Osborne with his bi-annual hike to the rate of the charge on lenders’ balance sheets. The chancellor’s final pre-General Election Budget included a commitment [...]
Budget 2015: George Osborne has discovered his mojo March 18, 2015 George Osborne has long been considered a cunning political strategist – in some circles, at least. Personally, for a long time, I found that argument difficult to accept. His first few Budgets hardly showed signs of high-level Westminster acumen. The debut of 2010 was inevitably tough, confirming an unpopular hike in VAT. The next prompted [...]